Little River Falls is a waterfall on Little River in Burke County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region, with a total height of about 200 feet. It lies about 7.4 miles southeast of Salem and roughly 34.3 miles northwest of Gastonia as the crow flies.
At 200 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of North Carolina’s 288 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 28th; the typical North Carolina waterfall is about 50 feet. The water comes down as a tiered waterfall, falling in several distinct steps one after another.
The Blue Ridge is the highest part of the southern Appalachians, a range of forested peaks and coves with oak, hickory, tulip poplar and hemlock and spruce-fir on the summits, in one of the wettest climates in the East. Steep mountain streams drop over granite, gneiss and quartzite ledges, giving the region hundreds of waterfalls. Little River carries 5 recorded waterfalls, and Little River Falls is the tallest of them.
There are 14 recorded waterfalls in Burke County. High Shoals Falls, a 75-foot tiered waterfall, is about 1.3 miles away. Pheasant Creek Falls, a tiered waterfall, is about 4.1 miles away. Black Mountain Falls, a horsetail waterfall, is about 5.1 miles away.
Little River Falls is located at 35.6096° N, 81.6230° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The position was verified on aerial imagery. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.